A devoted (obsessed) 18 year old girl's views on all-things Yankees, and other random thoughts

CC Grinds out a Victory as the Yankees Roar Against the Tigers

CC Sabathia Recorded a Win Due to a Little Help From Arod

From the minute I saw the matchup I knew today’s game would be a pitcher’s duel. Luckily the Yankees came out on top as they beat the Tigers for the second straight game, by the score of 2-1.

Pitching Analysis: CC Sabathia did not have his best stuff today, but like A.J. last night, he hung in there with a chance for his team to win the game. Early on, his control was way off. He kept missing high and away with his fastball, and he struggled to get ahead in the count. Although he had little control, he did not give up any runs today. His first jam came in the first inning, where he had 2 men on. He got out of it, but threw 24 pitches to do so.

CC’s biggest jam came in the top of the 6th. First, he got the always-dangerous Miguel Cabrera to pop up to Cano. Then Marcus Thames grounded one to Jeter’s right. Jeter makes a great play to throw to first as he jumped, but Thames was safe with an infield single. I really thought he was out. Then Magglio Ordonez doubles, making it second and third with only one out. I was thinking that this was the inning where he would fold. But CC got Ryan Raburn to pop up to shallow left, and then Brandon Inge to pop to Cano. I could not believe he did it. CC pitched 7 scoreless innings and really put up a gutsy performance. Well done.

Alfredo Aceves pitched the 8th and gave up a solo homer to Thames. In the 9th Mariano picked up his 25th save of the year.

Defensive Analysis: The defense was very strong today. Early in the game, CC was laboring and I worried that the defense would lose focus, but they didn’t. Jeter started some nice 6-4-3 double plays in the 3rd and 4th to get CC out of some jams. It is so comforting to have guys that you know are going to make all the plays!

Offense Analysis: There was not much offense today, but Arod came through when he had to. In he bottom of the 7th, he hit an opposite field homer off Verlander which ended a streak of 13 scorless innings for Verlander against the Yankees. Later on, Cano singled, Swisher doubled, and Melky, the clutch machine, knocked in Cano with an infield single. Melky’s RBI turned out to be an important run after Thames hit his homer in the eigth. I should also give credit to Derek Jeter, who was the only one who hit Verlander before the 7th inning.

So, in this tight pitcher’s duel, the Yankee heroes for today are CC Sabathia for his exellent performance, Alex Rodriguez for the first knock on the scoreboard with his homer, and Melky Cabrera whose little infield single RBI wound up being the difference in the game. The Yankees already one this series against the Tigers due to today’s 2-1 win. Nice game today. It is really nice that the Red Sox lost, and the Yankees are only 2 games out of first place! I hope they continue playing this well.

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